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Despite the cold, I had a great lesson on my favorite school pony. However, he's leaving this weekend for a new home. I hope they love him as much as I do. Special ponies stay in the heart forever. I'll miss the little guy, and am glad that I got to ride him for the year my horse was resting and rehabbing. I got lucky and layered correctly for the lesson, and was not the least bit uncomfortable or cold. That's hard to do when you're as wimpy as I am. Driving home, it was such a nice evening I opened the sun roof. Heated seats on, heat on, sun roof open, and a fun drive home. Had pantyhose on under my insulated breeches, two pairs of socks, a thin underlayer plus duo-folds on top, a vest, and ear-warmers under my helmet.

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Wow, Hazel, that pony must have been special if you still remember the exact day you lost him.

I went to the barn yesterday and sniffled all the way because Jack would not be there. Got there, and they had moved horses around, and Sky was in Jack's old stall. His blanket was still hanging on the door, and the sign that said, "No Treats." I left both...can't bear to think he's not coming back.

I tried calling DD yesterday, but she didn't answer. She may have been in class or just not ready to talk...I know she's hurting.

P.S. Got a text from DD...she had dinner with friends last night and is feeling somewhat better. Also got a text from BO saying, "Sky is better but Jack is worse. Vet is on the way." She must have sent it Sunday, but I just got it.

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Dewey, hang in there. We were there last year. We lost our heart horse in a tragic accident and I will never forget going to the barn and his blanket and cribbing strap were hanging there. My daughter was devastated. We will always remember Tyler, we had him not near long enough but long enough to fall in love so deep that it breaks my heart every time I think about him.
It is still hard even though we have another awesome horse.
If I didn't have a retired one out in the field I probably would not have gone back. I do enjoy riding again but we miss Tyler...
Grief is the price we pay for love..... Gretchen Jackson said this after losing Barbaro.....

Mai Tai aka Tyler RIP March 1994-December 2011
Grief is the price we pay for love- Gretchen Jackson
"And here she comes. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it's ZENYATTA!"

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Well, I've ridden every day this week and rode two today. I've logged more barn hours the past 3 days than the entire previous few years! :-D :-D. My muscles are definitely making me aware of that fact, LOL.

Dusty, the Appaloosa I wrote about earlier, is an interesting one. He's clearly been a trail horse his whole life and has no concept of leads, inside leg/outside rein connection, turning, etc. He seems intelligent & responsive, and isn't the type to constantly test. He's very mild mannered on the ground so I think with some work he'll be a nice intermediate horse for the lesson program. He has a HUGE trot, which was so surprising given his build, so I don't think he'll ever be a beginner horse.

Apart from that, I'm hacking the trainer's horse (terrifyingly LOL!) who is out of work because she doesn't have time.

There's a privately owned TB whose owner apparently doesn't have time/is scared of him, & the trainer thinks she'd love for someone to do something with him, so we'll see how that works out. I think 3 horses is enough to be going on with. I love it though, more than making up for the lack of horsiness in the past 4 years! :-D :-D

Dewey - I'm sorry you're having such a rough time, and I'm sure your daughter will be ok once she has time to process. Hopefully she has some horsey friends she can talk to at Uni.

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Yes Dewey he was very special. Just like Jack was to you and your daughter. I will never forget the night he died. There are some that just stay with you. I have finally learned to accept that he's gone but he stays with me and my kids always. He's there when they ride, he's there at every show, he catches them with his wings when they fall and he smiles when they win, because he taught them to believe and not to be afraid. I hope you and your daughter find peace and happiness in the fact that you had Jack on earth for as long as you did, and comfort in knowing that he will never leave you, he will just take a different form.

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Thank you, Hazel, for your beautiful post. I do feel fortunate that we had Jack in our lives for ten years. I was at church last night for our regular Wednesday night activities, and I almost asked the pastor if he believed that horses could have souls. (The trouble was, I was afraid I would start blubbering, so I didn't.) It's probably not part of the church doctrine, but I don't see how anyone could deny that Jack had a beautiful soul.

Thanks to everyone else, too, for your concern and sympathy. Having friends who understand is so helpful.

I heard a neigh. Oh, such a brisk and melodious neigh as that was! My very heart leaped with delight at the sound. --Nathaniel Hawthorne

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Tiger Horse – congrats on the new saddle! I have never intentionally tried to darken a saddle, so have no words of wisdom for you there. All I know is that I use Neatsfoot Oil to condition my tack a few times a year, and it works wonders keeping the leather nice and strong.

Dewey – my heart continues to go out to you and your DD. I have yet to go through the loss of one of these beautiful beasties. I don’t even want to think about the day…

PaintedHunter – omg, how ADORABLE is that high-fiving video!!! Now I’m going to *have* to teach my coming 3 year old to do that (I think she’s the only one of my 3 that could pick it up easily ‘cause she’s as much of a ham as it sounds like Ollie is). Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that!

I’m with you guys who say the cold weather is a killer. I tell you, where the horses are now, there is no riding arena inside or outside. So, I have no protection from wind/rain/snow, and the footing gets really sketchy if there is any precipitation (and gets really hard when below freezing). So, I haven’t been on the back of a horse in a while. It sucks. I still go out and love on them and groom them, but we stay in the comfort of the barn for the most part.

Event4Life – I am SO happy for how much horse time you’re getting! That’s wonderful!!! I hope maybe I can get up to riding that much soon!

As for me, I found a great barn that’s only 20ish minutes from my house instead of 2 hours. The kids are coming to live there toward the end of February – I’m so psyched!!! And this place has both an outdoor and indoor arena (indoor is *very* small, but at least you can flat in it), so I’m finally going to be able to do stuff with them again!!! They’re going to give my herd a lot more turn-out than what they’re getting now, too, which is great for Little Miss Colic Queen (Velvet). I can’t even tell you how excited I am to get them close to me!!! I can hardly wait!

This past Sunday I went with my friend to pick up a new horse for her. It’s a coming 3 year old TB girl. Beautiful. Dark gray, but has a white face. And she’s sweet as pie. My friend picked a good one. This filly is at the same barn I’m moving my kids to. And she has asked me to help put the initial training on her (reinforce groundwork, do lunging, install steering and gears from long-lining/lunging)! I’m so excited!!! So, even in the interim until my herd comes, I’ll have a horse to play with. Yay!!!!

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ClassyRide - YAY for new barns within reasonable driving distance! 2 hrs is CRAZY. I did 40mins when I was in PA and that was challenging enough, especially being a full time college student. I don't envy you guys stuck up north...I'm never living in the north again. It's 40's/50's here and thats quite "cold" enough, thanks...I'll get my snow fix when I go skiing! Anyway, here's hoping the new barn comes with warmer weather and you get more horsey time too.

All of you up north - Hang in there, hope the snow melts soon! When I lived up north I refused to ride below 30, even with an indoor. My mare and I were a pair of southern divas lol, and who can move wearing as many layers as you need to stay warm in those temps?

Everyone (who boards) - If you wouldn't mind weighing in, how much a month do you spend on your horse? This is including EVERYTHING - board, lessons, insurance, extra cash aside for vet instances, shots, dental stuff, farrier, etc. I'm planning on saving up and while I do obviously have a vague idea some real life experience would be helpful! I'd say horse cost here is probably "average" - not way overpriced but not exceedingly cheap either. I know that caring is often way more than purchase price, so want to know realistically how much extra I'd need/month after buying.

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Everyone (who boards) - If you wouldn't mind weighing in, how much a month do you spend on your horse? This is including EVERYTHING - board, lessons, insurance, extra cash aside for vet instances, shots, dental stuff, farrier, etc. I'm planning on saving up and while I do obviously have a vague idea some real life experience would be helpful! I'd say horse cost here is probably "average" - not way overpriced but not exceedingly cheap either. I know that caring is often way more than purchase price, so want to know realistically how much extra I'd need/month after buying.

All told if you divide it all out it comes to about $980 per month. I really wish I hadn't calculated that. I am going to start half leasing out my horse to cut the costs.

Completely unrelated: I finally got realistic with myself and pointed out that I don't have a need for fancy tall boots for the 4x a year local shows that I do. As a compromise, I treated myself to new paddock boots and Tucci half chaps. With spurs on, you can't tell, and this way I can change out (for much less $$) the calf when my weight changes, which I am hoping it does this year by a lot.

Originally posted by PeanutButterPony

you can shackle your pony to a lawn chair at the show...so long as its in a conservative color.

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PaintedHunter – omg, how ADORABLE is that high-fiving video!!! Now I’m going to *have* to teach my coming 3 year old to do that (I think she’s the only one of my 3 that could pick it up easily ‘cause she’s as much of a ham as it sounds like Ollie is). Thank you SO MUCH for sharing that!

Glad you liked it The hard part has been teaching him to not WHACK me - we needed more finesse so he doesn't take my arm off - he's a big guy! We're now at the point where he responds to every verbal command to high-five, with gusto...it took a lot of me smacking him on the shoulder with a crop every time he either offered without me asking (could get dangerous), or him aggressively pawing instead of a gentle high-five. He's caught onto it all very quickly- much more quickly than I would have thought. He LOVES food, and loves attention- I am sure you can see his ears happily flop when I tell him "good boy."

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I had the BEST time last night doing....what? Grooming my horse. I know that sounds really goofy, but I've been on crutches for three months and just recently got the aircast and slowly started to put weight on the ankle. I'm now walking in the boot. Last night was the first time I was able to get my horse out (with hubby's help), put him in cross ties, and just groom him. Awww. He was such a good boy. But it is weird how that can be enjoyable. I picked his hooves, groomed, picked through his tail to get all the sticks out, etc. It was therapeutic.

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$300 pasture board
$20 a month own special feed (Triple Crown Lite...only gets a bit a day)
$40 every six weeks for farrier- just a trim, as he's barefoot
about $45 a month in supplements - electrolyte, hoof and Probios for his "juicy butt"
$20 in treats (both packaged and apples/carrots)
about $70 for two group lessons per month right now (probably to increase)
averages out to about $100 monthly for all yearly vet expenses

so, that totals about $600 a month. But do I spend more? YES! Organized rail rides we have to trailer to, local showing, new tack, clothes and equipment for me, etc. comes out to at least $100 more a month, and up to $400 or so more. But those are tame-able expenses, if I reaaaaally wanted to. But I don't.

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Dewey - I do believe horses have souls, dogs and cats too. Otherwise, how could animals that give so much and expect nothing much in return exist?

On a side note - I wrote after Thanksgiving about the loss of our barn pony, ahem gigantic horse, Mojo. The oddest thing happened - the day after Thanksgiving, a dog showed up at the farm, some sort of American Bulldog thing. Had a collar, no tags. Happy, happy dog - just moved right in. He has been named Hedley, as in Hedley Lamar, "That's Hedley, you fool". The discussion at the barn is: Did Mojo send him to help mitigate the loss of him?

Paradox - you are not silly. Some of the best times I have had were just grooming Finn. We have some serious discussions during those times!

I hate riding in the cold too - at my age, my limit is more in the 50's.

Event4life: Here's my info:
Board: $350 (It's full board, 2x day feed, all the hay he can eat mostly, turn out in the am/brought in in the pm, blanket on/off as needed).
Feet: $35 every six weeks (no shoes thank goodness)
Vet: Shots 2x per year @ approx. $100 each
Supplements: Not on any at present. But if needed, I provide.
Lessons: $140 for 4 privates (but not doing any right now. Explanation to follow)
Dentist: Checked 2x per year - not sure of cost, call it $85x2
Chiro: $85 every four months or so